The present invention relates to tooling for holding articles and, more particularly, to a tooling assembly for holding a mass termination connector during termination of conductors therein.
Insulation displacement mass termination connectors, which function to electrically terminate a plurality of conductors in response to a single stroke of an insertion tool, are coming into increasing commercial prominence because of their tremendous reduction in tedious iterative manual operations in comparison with the previous wiring method of stripping the insulation from each individual conductor, placing a terminal on each stripped end and crimping the respective terminals on the respective conductors. One such mass termination connector, which is fully disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,442, includes a housing having front and back walls joined by a plurality of spaced barrier walls defining an array of cavities for holding a plurality of individual metallic terminal elements. Aligned openings in the front and back walls extend from the wire receiving face of the housing to provide entrances to the various cavities so that conductors positioned over the various cavities can be moved laterally of their axes to terminate them in the terminal elements.
A common method of terminating the conductors, which are often in the form of a flat cable, in the connector is by using a tooling assembly mounted in a bench press. Such a tooling assembly includes an insertion finger die set attached to the press ram, and a connector holder affixed to the press bed. These prior tooling assemblies often require operator manipulation of the holder during loading and release of the connector. This can be time consuming and can be dangerous in the event of inadvertent operation of the press. Other prior art tooling assemblies require complexities such as pneumatically operated latch mechanisms, and attendant control circuitry, to effect release of a terminated connector.